How do you size a black bear in the field?

Measure the width and length, divide by two and you get the squared size of the bear. Black bears squaring 5-6 feet are about average. A bear over 6 feet is excellent. Seven-foot bears are trophies of a lifetime, likely 400 pound-plus animals.

How do you measure the size of a bear?

Hide flat on the ground, measure across the front paws, and from nose to tail to get your 'squared' measurement. Black bears are almost always within a few inches of square.

How can you tell the size of a black bear from tracks?

The front track is generally wider than it is long. When measuring the width of a front foot track, a 5-inch track is average, 6 inch indicates a large bear, and tracks of large male black bears will not exceed seven inches. The track of a female black bear will generally not exceed five inches in width.

How tall is a 200 lb black bear?

94 m) with weights from 200-450 lb (90-204 kg). The American Black Bear has an overall body length of roughly 4'-6'8” (1.25-2.1 m), upright standing height of 5'3”-5'8” (1.6-1.75 m), and a typical lifespan of 20-25 years in the wild, or up to 45 years in captivity.

How big is a 400 lb bear?

Squaring a Bear Hide

Measure the width and length, divide by two and you get the squared size of the bear. Black bears squaring 5-6 feet are about average. A bear over 6 feet is excellent. Seven-foot bears are trophies of a lifetime, likely 400 pound-plus animals.

SHOOTER BEAR?!! - How to field Judge a Nice Bear

What is considered a big black bear?

The black bear is large and stocky and has a short tail. Adults range from 1.5 to 1.8 metres (5 to 6 feet) in length and weigh 90–270 kg (200–600 pounds). Males can be up to 70 percent heavier than females. The head is small but is supported by a strong neck.

How much meat do you get off a black bear?

Bears weigh considerably less when they emerge from winter dormancy; they may weigh 20 percent more in the fall after putting on layers of fat prior to hibernation. A 350-lb (159-kg) black bear will dress out at about 210 lbs (95 kg), yielding about 120 lbs (54 kg) of meat.

How long do you hang a bear?

There's a lot of debate over how long to dry age and hang meat. We generally go at least a week, but usually not more than two weeks. You can certainly go longer than that if the conditions are safe to do so, but we've found that past two weeks, you'll start to lose a significant amount of meat to drying.

Is field dressing a bear the same as a deer?

Field dress the bear immediately to preserve the meat and prepare for transport from the field to the freezer. Bears are bulky and have thick skin. The field dressing process is similar to that for an elk or deer, but the skin requires special attention.

How old is a 200 lb black bear?

8-years 150 lbs. 8-years 275 lbs. 20-years 150 lbs. 20-years 275 lbs.

What is the best bait for bears?

#3 Bait. Black bears eat just about anything, but favourite foods include pastries, popcorn, bread, oats, meat scraps, candy and beavers. You also need a strong odour—the more horrific, the better. Gillet pours buckets of decomposed fish guts around the site to get it “heated up.”

How far do black bears travel in a day?

Adult males: 8-15 miles. Excursions to 126 miles recorded. Ideal Habitat: Black bears like large forests with many different kinds of fruits and nuts.

Can you tell the size of a bear by its paw print?

Compare the length and width measurements. If the length and width are similar, it is likely a footprint from a bear's front paw. If the print is longer than it is wide, it is more likely a back paw print.

Does black bear taste good?

Bears taste better when they're on an omnivore diet, consisting of berries, meat, and succulent plants. That's why black bear is such a delicacy and tastes sweet like fruit. What is this? Bear meat can be slow-cooked like a roast, until it's pulled apart and tender.

Why is bear meat poisonous?

Bear meat should be thoroughly cooked as it can carry a parasitic infection known as trichinella and is potentially lethal to humans. It is the single biggest vector of trichinosis in North America.

How do you process a bear in the field?

Field dress a bear in the same manner as you would any other big game animal. Make the initial circle slit around the vent and then go up the middle of the belly to the chest, being careful not to puncture the stomach or intestines, as spillage can taint the meat.

What part of a bear can you eat?

Bear backstraps do make for some good steaks, but you have to cook it well done, unlike venison or elk. More on that later. For this reason, I will cut my backstraps into steaks, keep big hunks for roasts, and grind the rest. You can also cube up those roasts and use them for bear stew, which is fantastic.

Do you need to age bear meat?

Because of the volatile nature of bear and wild pork fat, you should never age bear or wild hog meat. Butcher it as soon as possible.

What state has the biggest black bear?

What state has the most black bears?

There are around 25,000 to 35,000 black bears in California. This makes it the largest population of black bears of any contiguous state.

What is the heaviest black bear on record?

Wikipedia says that, "The biggest wild American black bear ever recorded was a male from New Brunswick, shot in November 1972, that weighed 902 lb after it had been dressed, meaning it weighed an estimated 1,100 lb in life, and measured (7.9 ft long.)." And they're all over.